I'm so thankful that you and so many other people made videos for this. Watching multiple techniques helped a lot. The hardest part truly is getting the dang case open. It turned out 3 of the back tabs had snapped off making it near impossible to get the back open. After wresting with it for actual hours I finally got it almost there and then just gave it a hard yank and it separated. I hope I never have to open it again :D. Good news is, even with my lack of solder skills, it's not hard to just heat that ball off it pretty much just rolled into my trash can and then I kept applying more heat to make sure it was completely off the contacts and I was nervous after putting it back together (I tested before putting the case back on) but it worked!! Thanks so much!
2:50 Careful, you write that you have to set the meter to 20 Ohms, but you (correctly) have set the meter to 20k Ohms, because the resistance of the laser is around the 4-5k Ohm range.
Thanks for the video. A friend gave me an XBOX 360 Elite now in 2022, and it had an issue where most of the time it wouldn't recognise there was a disc in the drive (kept saying "Open Tray" after disc inserted). I bought a $5 laser replacement on eBay and followed the steps on the video. I had to adjust both the potentiometers, the first one between 4.5 to 5 ohms and the second one between 1.4 and 1.7 ohms (both were way under the correct value). It worked perfectly. Once again, thanks a lot for the video tutorial.
Just an update regarding the potentiometer setup and how it affected my ability to play games. So initially I set up my potentiometer around 4.78, which is between 4.5 and 5. I have around 35 XBOX 360 games and with this setup, almost all my games worked, but two of them (COD 4 and Guitar Hero Aerosmith) would still present the "open tray" error, no matter what I did. I then open the disc drive again and reduced the potentiometer value to around 4.2, tested again and all my games worked. So if you are still having problem trying to run some games after swapping the laser, try reducing the potentiometer reading to between 4 and 4.5 and trying again.
For reference if anyone still happens to use this video as a guide, the other pot (left) seems to sit at the 1.4-1.7 range (it was set at 1.54 on my 360 which was unopened previously). If you're purchasing a new laser, you can set it at around 5.1-5.5 for the right one initially since the diode is fresh. Both of the pots on my replacement laser came in sitting at 0.2-0.3 from the factory, which wouldn't work at all if I left them this way and tried it, and could potentialy kill the diode.
So far I've done this successfully for five xbox 360s that have had the "open tray" issue. It is true that you must remove the solder ball from the drive because I accidentally forgot to do this one time and that's the only time it didn't work (just got the "open tray" message instead). However, I did not mess with the potentiometer and they still all worked ok. I guess we'll see if they continue to work. The lasers for these are now up to $9 each but they're still a good deal. In the past I've tried to replace the whole drive and swap out the main board but the only drives you can find are refurbished or pulled out of old xboxes. The replacement lasers I got were new (even if they were manufactured 20 years ago) and I could tell because they were in sealed boxes and all had the solder joint that needed removing.
What nobody seems to say is if you play on xbox live, you don't want to turn your xbox on with the cdrom plugged in because your xbox will log that and send it to microsoft and they'll ban you as a word of caution.
Hi iv just replaced my benq laser on my flashed drive its the second laser i have installed as the last one just started to die. Iv tried 3 new lasers none of them work. The solder point has been removed correctly but none will read discs. My original laser still works (just about) so i am unsure what to do. Pot test results for 4 lasers were 1.75 2.85 4.85 and 5.4k ohms. If theres any probs people have come across please let me know
![[Xbox 360]Replace LiteOn DG-16D2S DVD-Drive(PCB Swap - Soldering - No Flashing - Tutorial)](/img/n.gif)
you have helped me so much here in 2024 bringing my old dinosaur 360 back to life thank you!
I'm so thankful that you and so many other people made videos for this. Watching multiple techniques helped a lot. The hardest part truly is getting the dang case open. It turned out 3 of the back tabs had snapped off making it near impossible to get the back open. After wresting with it for actual hours I finally got it almost there and then just gave it a hard yank and it separated. I hope I never have to open it again :D. Good news is, even with my lack of solder skills, it's not hard to just heat that ball off it pretty much just rolled into my trash can and then I kept applying more heat to make sure it was completely off the contacts and I was nervous after putting it back together (I tested before putting the case back on) but it worked!! Thanks so much!
2:50 Careful, you write that you have to set the meter to 20 Ohms, but you (correctly) have set the meter to 20k Ohms, because the resistance of the laser is around the 4-5k Ohm range.
Excellent tutorial, this worked perfectly and now my 360 works. Thanks very much!
Great video!!! Bought a replacement laser and followed your video. My Xbox works again!!!
Thanks for the video. A friend gave me an XBOX 360 Elite now in 2022, and it had an issue where most of the time it wouldn't recognise there was a disc in the drive (kept saying "Open Tray" after disc inserted). I bought a $5 laser replacement on eBay and followed the steps on the video. I had to adjust both the potentiometers, the first one between 4.5 to 5 ohms and the second one between 1.4 and 1.7 ohms (both were way under the correct value).
It worked perfectly. Once again, thanks a lot for the video tutorial.
Just an update regarding the potentiometer setup and how it affected my ability to play games. So initially I set up my potentiometer around 4.78, which is between 4.5 and 5. I have around 35 XBOX 360 games and with this setup, almost all my games worked, but two of them (COD 4 and Guitar Hero Aerosmith) would still present the "open tray" error, no matter what I did.
I then open the disc drive again and reduced the potentiometer value to around 4.2, tested again and all my games worked.
So if you are still having problem trying to run some games after swapping the laser, try reducing the potentiometer reading to between 4 and 4.5 and trying again.
For reference if anyone still happens to use this video as a guide, the other pot (left) seems to sit at the 1.4-1.7 range (it was set at 1.54 on my 360 which was unopened previously). If you're purchasing a new laser, you can set it at around 5.1-5.5 for the right one initially since the diode is fresh. Both of the pots on my replacement laser came in sitting at 0.2-0.3 from the factory, which wouldn't work at all if I left them this way and tried it, and could potentialy kill the diode.
So far I've done this successfully for five xbox 360s that have had the "open tray" issue. It is true that you must remove the solder ball from the drive because I accidentally forgot to do this one time and that's the only time it didn't work (just got the "open tray" message instead). However, I did not mess with the potentiometer and they still all worked ok. I guess we'll see if they continue to work. The lasers for these are now up to $9 each but they're still a good deal. In the past I've tried to replace the whole drive and swap out the main board but the only drives you can find are refurbished or pulled out of old xboxes. The replacement lasers I got were new (even if they were manufactured 20 years ago) and I could tell because they were in sealed boxes and all had the solder joint that needed removing.
Just to note, this is being set to 20K (20,000) Ohms, not 20 Ohms
Ordered up the laser from Nextec through Amazon installed per these instructions and it works great so far!
Why do you need to remove the ball of solder? And why do they put it there in manufacturing if its to be removed before installation?
Video was a big help and simple to follow
Your video still useful in 2021
If your lazer stil lights up does it mean its not broken?
Thank you, i repaired my Xbox with this instruction. It cost me 3 USD :)
Wish i would have found this video sooner have to buy a new one
i just fitted my new laser and followed the instructions to the T.
However my 360 still won't read disks.
any ideas?
maybe problm with the new one as well
wrong laser?
@@goldengoliath7618 if your disc is copy disc maybe your disc not burned well
What nobody seems to say is if you play on xbox live, you don't want to turn your xbox on with the cdrom plugged in because your xbox will log that and send it to microsoft and they'll ban you as a word of caution.
Care to elaborate? Your wording doesn’t make sense.
Hi iv just replaced my benq laser on my flashed drive its the second laser i have installed as the last one just started to die. Iv tried 3 new lasers none of them work. The solder point has been removed correctly but none will read discs. My original laser still works (just about) so i am unsure what to do. Pot test results for 4 lasers were 1.75 2.85 4.85 and 5.4k ohms. If theres any probs people have come across please let me know
Darren Baker did you get the disks to read on your Flashed 360?
Camera too far away
😁